Look at them any way you want, but there’s nothing in them that would suggest the Vegas Golden Knights should be leading the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 in the Western Conference final.

Well, that is, as long as you don’t look at the goaltenders.

In an NHL era where possession is the name of the game, the Jets are doing just fine in the critical department.

They’ve had the most shots, the most shot attempts, the most high-danger scoring chances and they’ve had possession of the puck almost 55% of the time.

Anyone who studies these types of things will tell you, teams win most of the time when they have those types of numbers.

Jets captain Blake Wheeler said after Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena that the Jets would win that game nine times out of 10.

But, of course, they didn’t.

The Jets couldn’t get the timely goal and they couldn’t get the timely save and, as a result, they never led in the game.

With Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury playing at an otherworldly level, the Jets left Vegas with nothing to show but a whole lot of frustration.

In the two games, they outshot and out-chanced the Golden Knights but never led for a second and were tied for only 12 minutes and 37 seconds.

Going back to Game 2 in Winnipeg, the Jets have not had a lead in 180 minutes and they’ve been tied for just 26 minutes.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that Fleury has been better than Connor Hellebuyck and that the Golden Knights have been highly opportunistic.

Generating offensive zone time only means anything if you score and if you don’t make glaring mistakes in the other zones.

The Jets shot themselves in the foot repeatedly over the past three games, all losses, especially in the minutes after scoring a goal.

In Game 2, they gave up a goal 1:28 after scoring to make it 2-1.

In Game 3, they gave up a goal 12 seconds after scoring to make it 1-1.

And in Game 4, they gave up a goal 43 seconds after scoring to make it 1-1.

That seems like a trend.

They also failed to score the first goal in any of the games and now have a 1-7 record when that happens in the playoffs.

With the way Fleury is playing — he has a .931 save percentage in the series despite facing 65 high-danger scoring chances — the Jets simply can’t afford to get behind.

Hellebuyck’s numbers are the ones that actually match up with the way the series has played out.

His save percentage is just .897, not nearly good enough for the third round of the playoffs. He has given pucks in each of the past two games, leading to goals against.

He says everything’s OK and he likes his game, but unless he puts in a Fleury-like performance or two in the next three days, his spectacular season will likely end on a sour note.

There’s no doubting that this series is not over.

The odds are long against the Jets winning the next three games, but far from impossible.

If the numbers aren’t enough to convince you that the Jets should at least be tied in this series and are capable of beating the Golden Knights on any night, just listen to Vegas coach Gerard Gallant.

“The third period (Friday) they came out and had five, six, seven minutes of sustained pressure in our zone and we couldn’t get line changes,” Gallant said. “They had some great chances to tie that game up, there’s no doubt, in the third period. We have to work hard, compete hard, continue to play our game. When we stand in our defensive zone, watch them cycle, move the puck down there, it’s not going to be successful for us. Fleury made some key saves at key times but we can’t let them have six or seven minutes of sustained time in our zone like we did.”

I’d say the Jets applied a lot more pressure than just that and if they can get a couple of greasy ones to go in Sunday afternoon at Bell MTS Place, they should be able to send the series back to Vegas for Game 6.

Of course, they’ve put themselves in a position where a bad bounce here or there could be enough to end their season.

This Week's Flyers

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